When I break
by xoxoPrincessB
Summary: When Troy moves he finds out that his best friend who left without telling anyone four years ago goes to his school. But shes changed. No one seems to know her and he cant get contact with her. Slowly she lets him in, but what happens when she breaks?
1. Too much

**Okay so this is my first story on fanfiction. Please review, subsribe, favourite :). I don`t know if it`s anything good, but I really hope you`ll like it. ****So this is my first chapter. The next will come out soon I hope.___________________________________________**

When I break

Chapter 1 – Too much

Thirteen year old Gabriella Montez looked at her sandwich. She took it in her mouth and quickly ran to the bathroom where she threw it all up again. Suddenly she heard her father come inside. She went to the door with a small smile hoping that he maybe would smile back; maybe somehow, she could make him proud.

"I got an A on my test today", she said showing him the paper.

"DON`T STAND IN MY WAY!" her father yelled.

"I`m sorry", Gabriella quickly went aside afraid of what his next complaining would be.

"GOD, IT`S A MESS HER!" her father yelled then. He took one of the empty bottles of whisky standing at the table.

"HAVEN`T YOU LEARNED TO CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF?" he yelled furious.

_Actually it`s after YOU,_ Gabriella thought.

"I`m sorry", she whispered frightened.

Her dad threw the bottle in Gabriella`s direction. Gabriella tried to get away, but the bottle hit her arm. Painfully she took her hand to her bleeding arm. Quickly she went upstairs. In the bathroom she took her sweater off. Her arm was bleeding, and a piece of glass was still stuck in it. Painfully she took it out. The pain went through her body. She wanted to scream, but she`d learned to stay calm for a long time ago. She found a bandage which she quickly took around her bleeding arm which already was full of bruises, cuts, and scars. She looked at her body. It was full of bruises, and her ribs were more visible than ever. Tears were running down her face.

"I`M GOING OUT TONIGTH!" She heard her father yell from downstairs.

_Of course_, Gabriella thought. She heard the door slammer. And then her phone started to ring.

She looked at the id and saw it was Troy. "Hello", she said with a friendly voice.

"Hey, are you busy with anything?" Troy asked.

"No", she answered.

"Do you want to come over?" Troy asked.

"Sure, I`ll be there in half an hour", Gabriella said looking into her closet for a new sweater to wear.

"Okay, bye", Troy said.

"Bye", she said and she hung up.

Gabriella looked at a picture of her and Tiara; a single tear ran down her face. "I`m sorry", she whispered.

She went downstairs where she started to clean the bottles from the table. Her arm was still hurting like hell, but she tried to ignore it. When it was clean she went to the door and put her shoes and her jacket on. She locked the door and went outside. She had gone that way so many times. She loved being at Troy`s house. He was her best friend; he had been that for five years now. Troy and Gabriella were the most popular kids at school. Gabriella didn`t know why, probably since Troy was looking so good and was the basketball star and Gabriella was the leader in the drama club. Together people thought the made the perfect "couple". But it would all change if they knew my secret, Gabriella always thought. Gabriella was always welcome in Troy`s house, something she loved. Because home she didn`t feel welcome at all, her father hated her. He really did hate her. Now Gabriella stood outside the door waiting for someone to open.

Lucille Bolton, Troy`s mother opened the door. "Hello Gabriella, come inside", she smiled.

"Hello", Gabriella smiled back and went inside.

Now Troy came to the door. "Hello", he smiled.

He looked at her with his beautiful baby blue eyes, eyes Gabriella was falling deeply in love with, though it was her best friend, and nothing more.

"Do you want to play some basketball?" Troy asked.

"Sure", Gabriella smiled. Troy loved to play basketball.

They went outside. Troy took a ball and started to shoot in the basket. Gabriella took another ball and wanted to shoot too, but then she felt her arm. It hurt like crazy. She kept smiling and painfully tried to shoot the ball in the net, but she missed it. To cover her pain she grinned.

"Not going that well today?" Troy asked.

"No", Gabriella grinned.

They played for a while. Every time Gabriella moved her arm the pain went through her body, but she just kept smiling and playing ignoring the pain. After a while they sat down on the grass.

"Are you excited about the musical?" Troy asked.

The new school musical, where Gabriella was playing the lead was going to have premiere on Monday. It was now Friday.

Gabriella nodded. "And very nervous", she said.

"You`ll be fine, you`ve done it before", Troy said.

That was true. This was the seventh musical where Gabriella was playing the lead.

"And you are wonderful up there", he added.

Gabriella blushed. There was silence for a while. Troy looked like he was going to say something. He opened his mouth and closed it again.

"What is it?" Gabriella said with a big smile on her face. "Is there something about me?" Gabriella started to fix her hair desperately to find out if she looked weird.

"No you look…" Troy took a little pause before he silently said; "beautiful".

Gabriella blushed again. "Thanks, so did you want to say something?"

"I wondered if you want to be more than friends?" Troy looked away embarrassed.

Gabriella quickly turned her head to look at Troy. "I-… I would love to", she said then smiling.

Troy turned around amazed. Their eyes met and slowly they leaned closer. Now Gabriella could feel Troy`s breath on her lip. As their lips connected Troy took his hand to Gabriella`s arm to hold her. As Gabriella felt Troy hold around her arm, a new wave of pain stormed through her body. She quickly took her arm away. Troy stopped kissing and looked worriedly at her.

"I`m sorry", Gabriella said almost whispering.

"Are you okay?" Troy asked worried.

"Yes, I`m fine"

Gabriella leaned her head towards Troy again not wanting to let the moment go. As their lips connected they once again kissed passionately. When they leaned back again both of them had a big smile on their face.

Troy looked at Gabriella smiling through his whole body. She was so… perfect. But still he was deeply worried. This wasn`t the first time Gabriella had moved painfully without confessing that she was in pain. He had been by Gabriella. She lived alone with her father. Once her father came in drunk, then he had seen Gabriella get a frightened look on her face. She had just ignored the whole thing. But he had also seen her father smiling to them and being very nice so he didn`t really know what to believe. Though Gabriella didn`t let him in often. They usually were at Troys, which he didn`t mind.

Gabriella looked at him. He was so beautiful. She smiled inside so happy for what had just happened. She felt pain in her arm. She tried to ignore it, but it just kept coming back. She didn`t know how long she could hold on anymore, but she needed to, he couldn`t know. She needed to smile. He couldn`t get suspicious.

---

Gabriella woke up in the middle off the night of her dead screaming. She looked up seeing him stand right next to her bed.

"HAVE YOU BEEN BY TROY?" he screamed.

Gabriella fluttered her eyes trying to get used to the light her dad had turned on.

"ANSWER ME!" he screamed.

"Yes", Gabriella said weekly.

"YOU TOLD HIM!" her dad said angry.

_If looks could kill_, Gabriella thought. "No", she said weekly.

"YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU TELL ANYONE!"

Gabriella didn`t even want to think about it, but she nodded.

Her dad took his belt and started to slap her back. Gabriella didn`t even know what she had done, but she knew how this hurt. The pain was storming through her body as the belt left bruises all over her back.

As the belt hit her body her dad screamed at her.

"YOU`RE WORTHLESS"

"I HATE YOU"

"YOU`RE JUST AS BAD AS YOUR FUCKING MOM"

When he was done he went out without saying a word. Tears were streaming down Gabriella`s face. How could he mention her mother? How could he say this about her? The whole night Gabriella was lying awake from the pain. She looked at the nightstand. There were two pictures on it; one off her mother and one off her and her three best friends from before: Tiara, Summer and Lindsey. All three of them had died in a bus crash on a school trip. She couldn`t come because her dad wouldn`t let her. They could choose if they wanted to come home with the first bus or the last, and since Gabriella was waiting back home, they had chosen the first, which made Gabriella blame herself for the death off the three girls. Gabriella thought about Troy, how close they were getting. Then she realized, she couldn`t do this. She couldn`t risk something happening to him. Because somehow Gabriella lost all off the people around her, she couldn`t risk that happening to Troy. The choice was now easy. She stood up. Weakly she moved. Her whole body was shaking. She found a bag.

She needed to get away.

She couldn`t take this anymore.


	2. A familiar face

Chapter 2 – A familiar face 

**Four years later**

Troy was in homeroom with Ms. Darbus. He looked behind him. In the back off the classroom a girl was sitting with her face to her desk. He had only been at East High for three weeks, but was already one of the most popular guys at school. He was on the basket-ball team, which his dad was coaching. That was the reason why they moved, because of his dads coaching job. Every day he looked at the girl. She reminded him off his best friend four years ago. Something that made him so interested in her. He had never got to talk to her and he`d never seen her smile or anything, unlike his old girlfriend (for one day) who always smiled. Even though, she reminded him about her. And he couldn`t take his eyes away from her.

Troy walked through the hallways heading to the cafeteria to meet his friend when he suddenly bumped in to someone casing the person to lose all her books.

"I`m so sorry", Troy started to help picking the books up. Then he looked at one off the books. "Gabriella, Biology" For a moment he stared at the book in shock and then he looked up. There in front of him he saw a girl with brown, long curls. She looked just like the Gabriella he used to know, but her brown warm eyes were now gray and empty. It had to be her. How big was the chance that he had met another girl with exactly the same name, and who looked so much like her. "Gabriella?"

The girl looked at him, still with no emotion. She took her books from him and quickly walked away.

Troy ran after her. "Hey wait!"

The girl started to walk faster. He took her arm gently. "Wait, I need to speak to you", he said out of breath.

The girl looked at him. "I don`t know you", she said coldly and walked away.

_This can`t be happening, _Troy thought.

"Hey dude, are you coming for lunch?" Someone said behind him.

He turned around to see one of his team mates Zeke Baylor. "I was just on my way"

"Lunch is that way", Zeke said pointing the other way.

Troy grinned. "I know, come on lets go".

At lunch Troy couldn`t focus, all he thought off was Gabriella.

_It can`t be here._

_It should`ve been a coincidence if there was another Gabriella who looked the same._

_No, she didn`t look exact the same._

_But people change in a few years._

_This Gabriella just seemed so… empty._

_Was she sad? Or maybe just shy?_

_God, help me!_

_But still she was so beautiful._

_Oh no, I`m not in love with her anymore. I can`t be._

_Love! That`s a big word. How can you be thinking about those things?_

_God, I miss Gabriella. _

_Damn, I need to find out more about this girl. _

After school he saw her again. He decided to follow her. Gabriella walked home, the way wasn`t long. Troy kept behind her all the time. Suddenly she stopped by a mail box and took the mail. Troy couldn`t see anything more than bills in her hand. The girl sighted as she went in a door to the basement. Sins he couldn`t see anything more he went home.

The next day, Troy was on his way inside with Chad and a bunch of cheerleaders hanging around them. There he saw Gabriella again. As usual she went fast with no expression on her face. He wanted to run after her, but couldn`t with all those cheerleaders around him.

"I need to go find my locker", Troy said.

"Dude, it`s right next to mine", Chad looked at him.

"I know… I just need to… go to the toilet first", he smiled.

He went inside of the men room and waited for a second before he went outside again. But outside some cheerleaders were waiting for him. He sighted, and then smiled.

"Hi girls", he smiled and went to his locker finding his books, trying to ignore them as nicely as possible.

In homeroom Gabriella sat with her head bend down all the time.

After class Troy went to Ms. Darbus, he needed to give it a shot.

"Ms. Darbus, I just wondered about that Gabriella girl", he said uncomfortable.

Ms. Darbus looked at him. "Gabriella Montez?"

"Yes", Troy said. _I guess it`s official now, it has to be her, _Troy thought.

"How long has she been at this school?" Troy asked.

"Just like everybody else she came here when she was fourteen", she answered.

Troy looked disappointed something Ms. Darbus saw.

"But I do know that she came to Junior High school spring in 8th grade".

Troy thought for a minute. _That`s exactly when Gabriella left._

"Why are you so interested in this girl?" Ms. Darbus asked.

"It`s nothing", Troy said quickly.

"I don`t want to see you doing something to her", Ms. Darbus said harsh.

"No, of course not", Troy answered quickly. He could never have done something to her.

"Thank you very much, Ms. Darbus", Troy said and started to walk away but he turned around to add: "And I would never have done anything to her".

**Okay, here is the second chapter :) I hope you liked it. Please review and tell me what you think. If you like it please tell others about this story. :) Thanks for reading, and the third should be up soon. Maybe not tomorrow, because I need to do some homework then, since I didn`t do much today :p **

**I don`t know how all the spelling is, because I`m still learning English, but i try my best :) And you can tell me if I do spell something wrong, that would be nice ;) Okay enough talk, so once again, review :D**

**xoxo Beate**


	3. One little smile

Chapter 3 – One little smile

A few days later Troy and a couple off his team mates were walking to the cafeteria when Gabriella walked passed them with her head bent.

"Looser", Zeke said.

Troy looked angry at Zeke, but quickly smiled. He could`ve killed Zeke for saying that. How could he say that about someone?

Troy decided to use his chance and in the cafeteria he asked his friends; "So who was that… eh… looser", Troy hated himself for saying that, but he needed to be a part of the group.

"Oh, that looser in the hallway?" Chad asked.

"Yeah", Troy said.

"Well she always walks around all alone, with that eh… face and her head bend down. I don`t know more. Why do you care?" Chad asked.

"Oh, I just thought the same and wondered if she`s always like that", now Troy didn`t really say something mean about her, so that could work.

Later that day

Troy was just finished with practice. He walked through East High to get outside when he suddenly saw Gabriella. He walked towards her.

"Hey", he said.

Gabriella turned her head and looked at him.

Troy looked into her eyes to see what she was thinking about. When he looked deep he could maybe see a little glimpse off scariness.

"Hey I won`t do you anything", he said. "I just think it`s unbelievable that you`re here. I missed you so much. I wondered where you were. I looked for you every…"

Gabriella started walking faster to get away.

"Hey, Gabriella!" he shouted after her, but she just went away.

Days went by, Gabriella wouldn`t talk to Troy. She never smiled. When he tried to talk to her she went away. She still always sat with her head bend down. Now they were in history class with Ms. Darbus.

"And now, for the next history project, I will put you in pairs", Ms. Darbus said.

"Denise and Laura"

"Peter and Jack"

"Troy and Gabriella"

Troy smiled. He looked at Gabriella to see her now looking up at Ms. Darbus, but still there was nothing to read on her face.

Ms. Darbus called out some more pairs before history class was over.

"So, when do you have time to start on the project?" Troy asked Gabriella.

"It doesn`t matter when", Gabriella said coldly.

"Okay, you could come to mine after school?" Troy asked.

Gabriella nodded and walked away without saying another word.

After school

Troy went outside East High looking for Gabriella. Suddenly he saw her standing a place outside of the crowd. He went towards her.

"Hey. I have my car parked"

Gabriella followed him to his car.

In the car Gabriella just sat in silence looking at the rode. When they were by his house she followed him inside. As they were working on their project, Gabriella didn`t say anything else than about the project. Gabriella kept the same look through all the working, a look that didn`t tell anything. When they`d been working for an hour Troy thought it was enough for the day.

"Okay, that`s good for now I guess", he smiled.

Gabriella nodded.

"So, how are you?" Troy asked Gabriella.

Gabriella looked at him, struggling to find words. "Fine", she said simply. "I need to go", she said then getting uncomfortable. She was about to stand up when Troy stopped her.

"No, I want to talk to you". "If you don`t have anything to go to or something", Troy said then hesitating.

She couldn`t lie either, she had nothing to do so she just sat back down again.

"Thanks", Troy said with a small smile on his face.

They both sat in silence for a long while. Troy saw how Gabriella stared into nothing with her cold and empty eyes. He so wanted to know what was going on in her head. He needed to know what had happened to her. He needed to find the old Gabriella in there. All he could do was getting her to talk.

"Come on Ella, talk to me", Troy begged.

Gabriella turned her head towards him by hearing her old nickname. "There`s nothing to say", she said then.

"I missed you so much, do you know that?" Troy asked.

Gabriella didn`t respond so he kept talking. "The musical has been a mess to without you", Troy smiled. "Sandra tried to take your role right after you went, but she messed it all up. She only knew half of what she needed to say and tripped from stage one time", Troy grinned thinking about it.

If you looked very good you could see a little smile appearing on Gabriella`s face for a second, something Troy noticed. He smiled in disbelief.

"That`s it! Come on, smile", he said.

Gabriella looked away.

Troy looked down, half disappointed. He had hoped she would smile even more, but now there was no sign to that there`d ever been a smile on her face again.

"If you need something, call me okay?" Troy said finding a note to write his number.

Gabriella looked at the note, and then gave it back to him. "I already have it", Gabriella said.

"Oh okay", Troy said. He had kina forgotten that Gabriella also remembered stuff about him.

"I need to go", Gabriella said coldly. She found her stuff and walked to the door.

"Bye", Troy said.

Without saying anything back, Gabriella walked out the door. Troy smiled a bit. It wasn`t much, but finally he`d gotten a glimpse of the old Gabriella. Now he could slowly get her to talk. Everything would be fine again, was what he thought…

On the way home Gabriella started to think.

_Oh no, I`ve fallen for it again._

_God, I Can`t do this._

_I am nothing, I`m not supposed to be anything, get that to your head._

_I don`t even KNOW how to be anything, how to act normal._

_It hurts, I don`t want it anymore._

_Why did I even hold on?_

_Why haven`t I just stopped it before? _

A few thoughts later…

_I`m right, it`s better that way._

**Okay, this is the next chapter :) What will happen next? I found time to upload today to, because I was supsosed to go to theater class, but it`s canceled :( I was really looking forward to it :( Okay, so what happens next? You`ll see soon :) Review, favorite, subscribe, and tell others about my story. At least, that would be very nice.**

**Thanks for reading, xoxo Beate**


	4. The hospital

Chapter 4 – the hospital

The next day at school, Gabriella didn`t show up. So afterwards Troy decided to go and check on her, after all, he knew where she lived.

He knocked on the door.

**No respond**

He decided to go inside as he felt the door was open. What he saw there shocked him more than ever. Gabriella was lying lifeless on the couch with a rope tied around her neck. Her face was red. Troy fluttered with his eyes to see if it was true.

When he realized that his eyes didn`t lie he screamed; "GABBY!"

He ran to her and untied the rope. Quickly he called 911.

**

Troy sat in a hospital chair looking at Gabriella who was peacefully lying in the hospital bed connected to different machines. She had wires attached all over her body. He hated to see her like that. All he wanted was for her to wake up.

"Gabby, please wake up", he whispered silently.

… But he started to lose the courage. He kept seeing the sight of Gabriella with that rope around her neck. The doctors had said that she was lucky since Troy had come so fast. If he`d come a few minutes later Gabriella would`ve been dead. He heard someone come inside. He turned around to see his parents.

Lucille looked at Gabriella and recognized her right away. Her brown curls covered the entire large, white pillow. But her eyes were changed. Her chocolate brown loving eyes were now… gray and just empty. Lucille went to Troy and put her hands on his shoulder. "We came as fast as we could".

"What happened?" Troy`s father, Jack asked.

Troy looked at Gabriella, then he stuttered; "She… She tried to k-kill herself", he felt the tears coming down his face. He couldn`t hide them anymore.

Suddenly Jack and Lucille understood how serious this was. They looked at each other without knowing what to say. They both figured that now wasn`t a good time to ask more questions.

Hours went by and still nothing happened Troy had spent the night by Gabriella but still no respond. Troy didn`t go to school. He had now been sitting by her bed in twenty-three hours begging her to wake up.

"Please wake up, for me"

"I promise, everything is going to be okay, if you just wake up"

"Wake up, please"

He held her hand tightly as he looked at her pale face. Suddenly her eyes fluttered. His eyes widened and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Hey", he said almost whispering so that he wouldn`t scare her.

Gabriella heard his voice and realized what was happening. She closed her eyes again too tired to keep them open.

"Gabriella no", she heard Troy. "Please squeeze my hand if you can, I need to know if you`re awake".

Gabriella knew she could, but she didn`t want to.

How could she be here?

What had happened?

She heard Troy scream for a doctor and then she heard someone come inside.

"She opened her eyes for a sec", she heard Troy tell.

Gabriella felt another hand take hers. "Gabriella, can you hear me?" the woman said.

"Squeeze my hand if you can".

Gabriella knew she needed to so she put all her effort in it and squeezed the hand as hard as she could.

"You have a tube in your throat which was helping you to breathe; I shall take it out now that you breathe better by yourself", the doctor said as she took out the tube in Gabriella`s throat.

That felt so much better. Gabriella opened her eyes to see Troy and the doctor standing by her side.

"I`ll leave you two alone for a while and then Gabriella needs to rest, okay?" the doctor said.

Troy nodded and the doctor went outside.

Troy sat down by Gabriella`s side again. "How are you feeling?"

But to Troy`s disappointment, Gabriella didn`t answer. She just kept her miles away look.

"Please answer me". As she didn`t Troy started to talk again. "I don`t want to lose you, do you know how much you scared me?" Now she just closed her eyes. Troy sighed and he went outside to let Gabriella rest.

**It was really hard to write about this, but I needed it to get on with my story. I don`t know much about this stuff, but I watch TV and there you can see a lot these days :p If it`s crap, tell me and then I`ll just make another twist on the story. I also know that it`s short, but I didn`t know what more to write. Even though, I hope you liked it. Please review, favorite etc. **

**Beate **


	5. Still miles away

Chapter 5 – Still miles away

Three days later and Gabriella was still in the hospital. She didn`t talk, she would barely eat, and in her eyes it still looked like she was miles away. The doctors had begun to suspect that she had a disease, so they were running all kinds of tests on her. Troy had gone to school this day for the first time. He had promised Gabriella to come right after school, but Gabriella didn`t seem to care, not about him, not about anything. Well, Gabriella knew different.

Gabriella was alone in her room. She looked at all the machines. She heard the beat off her heart and could see how she was breathing at one machine. She had a cord in her nose helping her to breathe. At her cell phone she had an old picture off Troy which she was looking at. It wasn`t because some disease that she wasn`t responding. Gabriella had just got this thing to her head that if she would get close to him or anyone she would hurt them, so now that she almost had been getting close to him she needed to stop it. She looked at the socket which gave power to the machines. She saw that it was within reach, and thought that if she took it out she would probably not be able to breathe anymore, since it was the machine that helped her to breathe. She sat up and reached the socket. She took it out an all the machines stopped. Gabriella couldn`t really notice anything different. But what she didn`t see was that in that moment a nurse was walking past seeing it happen. The nurse came inside half running and quickly took the socket back in.

"What were you doing?" The nurse asked frustrated.

Gabriella sat back down in her bed feeling kind of guilty and mad that it didn`t work.

The nurse came to her bed. "You can`t do that, you could`ve killed yourself".

"I don`t want to live", Gabriella said coldly.

The nurse looked up at her surprised to hear her talk. She looked at her watch to see if she had time to be here a minute. When she saw there was time she went closer to Gabriella. "You need to hold on, everything will be okay" "And Troy really needs you". She looked at Gabriella to see her with closed eyes and realized that her minute of clearness was over, so she went outside.

A few hours later Troy was in the hospital. He was on his way inside of Gabriella`s room, when he was stopped by a doctor. The doctor asked him to sit.

"Gabriella isn`t doing that well", he said.

Troy started to get worried. "What, did you find something?"

"No, we haven`t found any sign to that she has anything".

Troy nodded.

The doctor took a breath. "But-". He was struggling with finding words. "It doesn`t seem like Gabriella wants to live, she tried to stop the machines from helping her to breath earlier today".

Troy sighed. "What can I do help her?"

"I don`t know. You need to try to get her talk. Often it helps if you talk a lot to her. Bring up childhood memories". "Since we don`t know why she is responding the way she does it`s hard to know", the doctor said.

"Do you think she will get better?" Troy asked. He`d really started to lose his courage.

"I`m sorry, we know too little, but there are only gone three days". "These things take time".

Troy hadn`t really thought that she never would come back after she had woken up, but after hearing these words from the doctor he didn`t know anymore. He hadn`t told anyone why he wasn`t at school for the past two days. He`d just told them that he`d been ill. And no one asked about Gabriella, so that was easy. He went inside off Gabriella`s room. Gabriella was lying in her bed staring into nothing.

He sat down and found some girls magazines out off his bag. "I looked at what other girls at school read and I bought these, thought maybe you would like having something to do", he told her handing her the magazines.

Without looking at him, Gabriella opened one of the magazines starting to read.

A few hours later Lucille stepped inside. Gabriella was reading in one off the magazines while Troy sat at the little table that was placed in Gabriella`s room doing his homework.

"Hello", she said walking to Gabriella`s bed.

Gabriella kept reading her magazine without responding to Lucille.

As Lucille realized it wasn`t worth it she went to Troy. "You can`t sit here all day", she said.

"I`m not leaving Gabriella, and by the way, it`s easier to focus when I`m with her", he said.

"Well have you gotten something to eat?" Lucille asked Troy.

"No", Troy answered looking up at his mother.

Lucille hugged him. "You need to, eat something honey".

"I will, thank you for coming", Troy said.

From the bed Gabriella glanced away from her magazine secretly envying them.

**Thanks for reading ******

**I know it`s short, again. But I promise the next one will be longer. I hope you liked it. **

**4 reviews for the next chapter, that shouldn`t be too much to ask. And thanks to everyone who already have reviewed, you really make my day******

**xoxo Beate**


	6. Just cry

**I got my 4 reviews, yay :D So here is the next chapter:**

Chapter 6 – Just cry 

Another week went by. Gabriella would still not talk. She was just lying in her bed, staring into nothing or reading or sleeping. That was mostly what Gabriella`s day was about. A bit eating too, but the nurses needed to force her to every single bite, which wasn`t easy. Troy kept turning up every day. He`d tried everything, but Gabriella would still not talk. The doctors had stopped with running tests son her, because they couldn`t find anything. More specialists had been visiting Gabriella in hope for some progress. The story was now all over the newspapers, but of course no names were mentioned. Gabriella started to understand that she couldn`t keep on like this. People thought she was crazy, maybe she was. She didn`t know. But there was something true in it; she did not know how to communicate anymore. Imagine if you haven`t had a real conversation in four years. Then you get kind off out off it. Gabriella didn`t know how to let her emotions out either. She knew that she needed to say something, she couldn`t be like that to Troy, but she also knew that she couldn't be around him. She knew that she would hurt him, even though she tried so hard not to. So this time she would tell. Just say it. Then maybe he would stop coming around.

That day when Troy came after school, he went right to the little table to do his homework. He knew Gabriella wouldn`t talk so he just needed to be happy with that he could be around her. But then something happened something he never thought would. A little voice came from the bed; "Troy", it sounded coldly and insecure.

He turned around to see if he had heard right. There he saw Gabriella looking at him. He went to her bed.

"I need you to stop visiting me".

"What?!"

"I need you to stop visiting me", Gabriella repeated.

"No, Gabriella I would never do that", Troy said.

Gabriella had kept her empty look. "It`s better that way", she told him, "for your own sake".

"No Gabriella I need to be with you", Troy said warmly.

This wasn`t working. She needed to get him to understand, Troy wouldn`t give up that easy.

Gabriella showed him to come closer. Now they were so close that Troy could feel Gabriella`s breath. So Gabriella whispered; "I got this thing, I don`t know what it is, but I always seem to hurt the one around me".

"What do you mean?" Troy asked. All kinds of thoughts came to his head. The dominating one was that she without purpose could lose her temper very quick.

"I always lose the one I love", Gabriella said. "I don`t know why, maybe it`s a curse". "That can`t happen to you so I need you to go away".

Now it all started to get clear for Troy. He remembered Tiara, Summer and Lindsay. They were really close friends. And they all died in the bus crash.

"I don`t care", he said. "I missed you too much when you left, I can`t lose you again". "And if this is about the bus crash. That was not your fault".

Gabriella looked down. "That`s not all", she nearly whispered.

"What do you mean?" Troy asked. He was now sitting at the edge off her bed.

Gabriella realized that she was falling for it again. "Nothing, I told you not to care".

"Gabriella, please stop doing this".

Gabriella looked into his eyes. "And if something happens to you, how am I supposed to live with myself then?" her voice was almost cracking now. **(A/N: I just love that line, one off the best I`ve ever written. I don`t know if you think it, but I`ve just fallen in love with it :p Imagine on a movie trailer or something :p)**

"Gabriella, nothing will happen to me, and of course I know that nothing will happen to me because I`m with you, that`s insane".

Gabriella sat back to her pillow which was now in sitting position, without knowing what to say.

Troy looked at Gabriella, now was the time. "Gabriella I need some answers".

"Like what?"

"Gabriella you know exactly what", Troy`s voice was sounding angry now. "You left all off the sudden without telling me anything and now four years later I found you walking all alone all the time, not wanting to talk to me or anyone and then you try on a suicide!"

Troy knew right away that he had crossed the line. He wished he could take the last words back. He saw how he`d hurt Gabriella. Even though she was very unreadable, you could now she the pain in her eyes.

"I`m sorry, I shouldn`t have said that".

"I deserved it", Gabriella said.

She took a breath. "I wasn`t really the person you think I was", Gabriella started. "My dad, he was… hurting me".

"He was always drunk, and somehow he hated me", Gabriella looked down in shame.

Troy listened in disbelief and said almost whispering; "that`s terrible".

"My mother didn`t die at the birth off my sister like I told you. My father killed them both, I watched it". "If it wasn`t for me, my mom wouldn`t have stayed with my dad, then she would be alive now".

Troy opened his mouth to say something, but Gabriella stopped him. "Let me talk".

She continued her life story; "So when I was getting close to you I realized that I couldn`t risk hurting you, so I went away". "At first when I came to Alberquercie I cried every day, every second, but after a while I didn`t have more tears left. I didn`t want to get close to anyone there so that I would hurt them so I started living my own little life"

"Since I never talked to anyone I became more distant every day, I shut all my feelings away, until I just stopped feeling". "So now you came, and I could not get close to you. So then I suddenly started to think about why I actually did live when I couldn`t get close to anyone and I realized it was just best to end it".

Troy looked up at Gabriella to see tears rolling down her pale face. Gabriella tried to wipe her tears away, but they just continued to flow down her face.

Then she said through her tears; "This… is the first… t-time that… I cry i-in th-ree years"

Troy pulled Gabriella close to him and whispered. "Shh, just cry, let it all out, it`s okay".

And so Gabriella did, she cried as all her emotions from the last three years came up. When she was calmed down a bit she said: "I`m sorry".

"Don`t be", Troy whispered.

Gabriella cuddled herself into Troy. It felt so good to finally be close to him. And in this moment she truly did believe, everything was going to be okay.

**Thanks for reading. I spend a lot time on this. Thanks to everyone who is reviewing. Please review, favourite, subscribe. **

**4 REVIEWS FOR THEN NEXT CHAPTER would be very great!**

**xoxo Beate**


	7. The rain

Chapter 7- the rain

The next day Troy decided to skip school, since Gabriella had been a mess last day and he didn`t want to leave her alone. He came to the hospital very early and found Gabriella still asleep when he came to her room.

After half an hour Gabriella started to scream. "NO!" She was lying restless while she kept screaming.

"Gabriella, wake up", Troy said quickly while he was shaking her. Gabriella opened her eyes and looked frightened at Troy. "No, go away. I knew this wasn`t a good idea".

"Gabriella what are you talking about?" Troy asked confused, but somehow he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"You and I getting close", she said looking at him frightened.

_This can`t be happening, _Troy thought. "What did you dream?" Troy asked since he knew it had to do with that.

"You were in a car accident", Gabriella answered. "I told you this wasn`t a good idea".

"Gabriella it was only a bad dream", Troy said frustrated.

"I`m sorry", Gabriella said with tears in her eyes. "I can`t do it".

"Gabriella", Troy started before he got cut off; "You should go to school".

"No, I`m staying", Troy said.

"Goodbye Troy", Gabriella just said looking at the door.

As Troy realized there was no point in staying he went away to get to school.

Tears came streaming down Gabriella`s face. Now that she`d first let her emotions out, she couldn`t stop. She knew Troy would come back right after school. She hated to let him go, but she knew she couldn`t get close to him. She regretted yesterday.

--

After school when Troy came to the hospital he heard that Gabriella was gone. She had just gone without telling anyone. So she didn`t have her medications or anything. The doctors calmed him with that the medication wasn`t that important, she would only be feeling a bit sick without it. Troy ran out of the hospital and quickly drove to Gabriella`s apartment. But all her stuff was gone. He dialed his mother's phone number and told her that Gabriella was gone and he was looking for her now. The doctors had told him that she`d left two hours ago, so she couldn`t be too far away. It was full storm outside and the rain poured down. After driving in about an hour he found Gabriella a bit out of town walking down the road with one bag. Quickly he stopped, but Gabriella kept walking, like she couldn`t care less. He went outside and followed her.

"Gabriella, please come inside off the car", he begged.

Gabriella kept walking.

"We`ll work it all out, just come with me", Troy begged. They were both wet all through right now, but Gabriella just kept walking faster for each second. "We can`t be out here in the rain, we`ll get ill", Troy said frustrated.

Gabriella turned around; "Then go home".

"Come with me"

"No"

"Look, the only way you will hurt me is by going away", Troy explained. He sighed; "Please, just come back".

"I sold my apartment", Gabriella said.

"You can stay with us for a while, until you find somewhere to live".

"I can`t, Troy". What Troy didn`t notice was the tears rolling down her face, covered up by the rain.

"It`s just some crazy thing that came to your mind, you won`t hurt me", Troy tried to explain her.

Suddenly it started to thunder and lightning. It seemed to be very close. The rain was still pouring down and the rain was making both of them freeze. Troy looked begging at Gabriella.

"You're not safe here", he told her.

"Just for a while and then you can go away when you have somewhere to go".

Finally Gabriella gave in and they both went to the car. The trip home was very silence. Gabriella was quietly crying unnoticed and both were ice cold from the rain. When they came home, Lucille was waiting for them.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" was the first Lucille said when she saw the two off them.

"This is no good for you", she said. "Go upstairs and take a shower".

They both went upstairs. Luckily the Bolton family had more bathrooms with showers so they didn`t have to wait for each other. As Gabriella felt the hot water stream down her body tears came running down her face. She really didn`t know what to do. She felt so depressed and so many emotions at the same time. When she came out off the shower she realized that all her clothes were wet so she twisted a towel around her body and went outside, but there she saw some comfortable clothes, probably belonging to Troy lying ready for her. She put the clothes on and then she dried her hair well before going downstairs. Troy and Lucille were both waiting for her.

"I`m making some soup, I guess you are hungry", Lucille said.

Gabriella didn`t respond. When the food was ready the three of them sat down to eat.

"You are more than welcome here, you can stay as long as you want", Lucille told Gabriella.

"I found some off Troy`s clothes for you to wear since all your other clothes probably are wet", she continued.

Gabriella just nodded.

"I`ll wash the rest of your clothes", Lucille continued.

Gabriella was barely eating of her soup and barely responding to what Lucille said. Lucille and Troy were both looking worried at Gabriella.

When they were finished Gabriella helped cleaning the table and Lucille and Gabriella both went to Gabriella`s bedroom with Gabriella`s bag and some sheets for her bed.

Everything in the bag was wet. Lucille looked at Gabriella as she unpacked the bag. At first it was only wet clothes, but after a while Gabriella took some pictures out off her bag. The first picture was of a woman who looked very like Gabriella. Gabriella looked at the picture clearly fighting for her tears not to come. Lucille stroke Gabriella`s back and quickly Gabriella put the picture down beside her. Then she took up the next picture of a younger Gabriella and three girls Lucille recognized right away, three of the students from the bus crash. Gabriella quickly put it down with the other picture. Lucille was surprised by seeing how little Gabriella owned.

"This is all you have?" Lucille asked.

Gabriella nodded.

Well it wasn`t much work for Lucille then. They made the bed ready. Even though it was only seven o'clock, Gabriella lied down in her bed. She didn`t want to be up. All she wanted was to lie in bed in a dark room all alone.

**I`m sorry for the wait. I know it sucks, but I didn`t want to let you wait any longer.**

**Please review**

**xoxo Beate**


	8. the kiss

Chapter 8 – the kiss

It was two days later and Gabriella had stayed in her bed the whole time, except from one time when she needed to go to the bathroom.

Troy and his parents had just eaten their dinner and Troy went upstairs with a plate of macaroni in the hope for Gabriella to eat something. He knocked on the door and slowly opened it. Inside off the room it was dark.

"Hello", he said.

As he didn`t get any response, he put the light on. Gabriella was sitting in her bed staring at the sheets. She looked up as the room was lightening up. She looked at the plate.

"No", she groaned.

"Come on Gabriella, you need to eat". Troy went over to her bed.

"Please just go away", Gabriella tried. "And turn the light off", she added.

"You can`t just sit her in the dark all day".

Troy put some macaroni on the fork. "I`ll feed you", he said. "You don`t have to do anything, just eat".

Gabriella slowly opened her mouth and let Troy put some macaroni in it.

"That wasn`t that bad", Troy said when Gabriella had swallowed it.

Gabriella just lifted her shoulders.

Troy put some more macaroni on the fork and put it in Gabriella`s mouth.

Gabriella let Troy feed her bite by bite.

"You know you can talk about it", Troy said, "It`ll help".

Gabriella didn`t answer him. When the plate was half empty she shook her head, "I`m not hungry anymore".

"Okay", Troy said pleased with the fact that she had eaten half the plate of the macaroni. He sat the macaroni on Gabriella`s nightstand.

After a while of silence Gabriella asked; "Have you seen my father after I left?"

Troy took a breath. "He took a suicide a few months after you left". He looked at her with sympathy.

"Oh", Gabriella said silently.

"I`m sorry", Troy told her.

"Unbelievable", Gabriella whispered to herself.

"What?" Troy asked.

"I even managed to hurt him". "I didn`t think he would care".

"Maybe he did care about you"

"He was just too stubborn to admit it", Gabriella whispered.

"But he hurt you!" Troy made a point.

Gabriella looked down.

"Gabriella you shouldn`t be feeling guilty for this, it`s not your fault".

"Like always", Gabriella whispered.

"I know it`s hard, but don`t blame yourself".

"Why does everything keep happening to people around me then?" Gabriella asked a bit louder now clearly fighting for her tears.

"I know, it`s unfair", Troy said calmly stroking her hair.

Gabriella and Troy looked into each other's eyes and slowly Gabriella leaned closer. As their lips met Troy responded the kiss and the kiss became more passionate. After a while Gabriella quickly pulled back.

"I`m so sorry, you were just being so nice and I thought… no I didn`t think", she said quickly.

"Hey, Gabriella", Troy stopped her "I liked it".

Gabriella looked into his eyes. "So what does this mean?"

"Whatever you want it to"

"Can we just take it slow?"

"Of course"

Gabriella moved closer to him and leaned her head into Troy`s chest and Troy stroke her hair again.

"Look how good it feels to open up", Troy said "I`m here for you, and I will always be".

Gabriella nodded, "It`s just hard, because I`ve never really opened up to anybody before"

"I know", Troy said calmingly. "I just wonder where you got the money from."

"My mom had saved up something before she died, but I`m running out so I need to find a job" "I`ve already sold almost all of my furniture".

"I`m just so tired of it all".

"I know", Troy said calmingly.

"Thank you", Gabriella said out of nothing.

"For what?"

"Well, for everything. You`ve been there for me all the time. Even when I told you not to, you stayed by me, it just shows how much you care", Gabriella answered.

"I couldn`t stay away from you", Troy smiled.

"And you saved me"

"That was just lucky", Troy said half for not wanting to take the credit and half harsh against Gabriella for almost taking her own life, but he didn`t want to make a point out of that now.

Gabriella shook her head. "That wasn`t the way you saved me. You saved me by being there, you saved from dying INSIDE".

Troy didn`t know what to say so he just kissed her forehead. They sat in silence for a while before a little smile came upon Gabriella`s face.

"What", Troy asked.

"I like the idea of us", Gabriella answered with a little smile still attached on her face.

Troy held a tighter grip around her and smiled, "Me too".

**I`m so sorry for not uploading before, but I was away this weekend and wanted to upload it before, but I couldn`t manage to finish it. I also know it`s short, but I wanted to stop it there.**

**Please review! I`m also aproving anonymus reviews, just thought I should try it. **

**I hope you liked it, xoxo Beate**


	9. Taylor

Chapter 9 - Taylor

Two days more went like this, Gabriella didn`t want to come out off her bed, and all she ate was what Troy came up with for her after dinner. Troy was inside off Gabriella`s room more times. Sometimes they talked for a while, sometimes Gabriella didn`t want to.

The Bolton family was just about to sit down to eat when Gabriella came down the stairs shyly in her pink striped pajama pants and a white big t-shirt with her hands holding around her stomach.

"I heard there was dinner", she said hesitantly.

"Oh sure, we`ll find another plate", the other three said quickly and set the table for one more person.

For a while the four of them sat silently eating their food until Gabriella said; "I just want to thank you for letting me stay here and being so helpful and stuff. I know I haven`t really been acting nice, but I just didn`t really know how to act, so I just want you to know that I really appreciate everything you`ve done".

"Anything for you, we`re just glad we can help", Lucille said with a soft smile. "And it`s good to have you back, we all really missed you".

Gabriella smiled shyly.

"You can stay as long as you want", Jack, Troy`s father said.

"Thank you", Gabriella said.

After the dinner Gabriella helped cleaning the table and then Troy and Gabriella sat down watching a movie. Gabriella kept very quiet during the movie as she sat watching cuddled up in a blanket. Now and then Troy and Gabriella turned around to look at each other with small smiles appearing on their faces.

--

After Gabriella had stayed home for one week, Troy thought it was time for Gabriella to get to know some more people, to show her that she didn`t have to be afraid of returning to East High. So at school that day Troy decided to talk to Taylor, Chas`s girlfriend.

"Taylor, can I talk to you for a while?" Troy asked as he saw Taylor heading to lunch.

"Sure", Taylor answered wondering what Troy wanted with her.

Troy dragged her into an empty classroom making Taylor just wonder more.

As they both sat down Troy said; "The thing is that when I came to East High I met this girl who was my best friend for a long time, until she suddenly moved, and well she`s been away from school for a while for some reason I can`t really tell you, it`s complicated, and she lives by me now, because she was living alone" _Troy come to the point_ "She`s afraid of what people will think of her when she comes back so I thought that if she knew some more people she wouldn`t be too afraid to come back so I thought of you and wondered if you have time sometime, if you would like to come by? She is very nice". Troy hesitated a bit, he`d already made a speech, but it was harder than he thought.

"Sure", Taylor smiled.

"But you said that she`s been at East High for a while, so maybe I know her. What`s her name?"

"Gabriella Montez", Troy answered.

Taylor thought for a while until she said; "No sorry I don`t know".

"Well, she hasn`t really been the most outgoing girl", Troy said.

"Does she have time after school today?" Taylor asked.

"Yes of course, you can come with me right after school. I have my car here", Troy quickly said with a big smile on his face.

"Okay", Taylor nodded.

"And just before I forget; She doesn`t know that you`re coming".

"Maybe you should call her", Taylor said.

"No that`s not a good idea, please come anyway, it would be to so much help".

"Of course", Taylor said amazed by seeing how caring Troy was she had not seen that side of him before.

"And please, don`t tell anyone, even not Chad", Troy said.

"Sure", Taylor smiled.

--

Gabriella was sitting in her pajamas watching a sad movie, when suddenly the door opened.

"Hello I`m home", Troy shouted.

A few seconds later he came in the living room with another girl following him. She`d seen her before, it was Taylor from her history class, the school president. Suddenly Gabriella felt jealous, because she had no idea why Taylor was in 'her' house.

"I got someone here who wants to meet you", Troy said.

Suddenly Gabriella felt very embarrassed. There she sat in her pajamas almost in tears watching that movie. She sat right up in the couch as she looked at the two of them, no idea what to say.

"I… I`m sorry… that I haven`t… that I`m not dressed", she stuttered.

"Don`t worry", Taylor said as she went towards Gabriella "I`m Taylor McKessie", Taylor held her hand up for Gabriella to shake it.

"Gabriella Montez", Gabriella said shaking Taylors' hand.

"I`m going to go upstairs to get dressed" Gabriella said. "Troy can I talk to you?"

"Sure", Troy said following Gabriella upstairs.

"What are you doing?" Gabriella asked madly.

"I thought you would like to get some friends", Troy answered.

"I`m not interested in your set ups"

"Please Gabby, just try. It will be good for you"

"Okay, but I`m doing this for you", Gabriella said before she went in the shower.

Fifteen minutes later Gabriella came downstairs all dressed up. Troy went upstairs leaving the two girls alone as Taylor and Gabriella sat down.

"I`m very sorry about this, I guess you have better things to do", Gabriella said shyly.

"No, it`s nice to meet you", Taylor smiled. "So you have been going to East High for a while now?"

"Yes, four years", Gabriella answered.

"And I`ve never seen you before", Taylor said in disbelief.

"Actually I`m in your history class"

Suddenly Taylor felt rude. "Oh, I`m so sorry", Taylor said quickly.

"Don`t worry about it, blame me", Gabriella said.

"And you know Troy pretty well?"

"Yes, we were friends a long time ago".

"He told me so", Taylor said nodding. "So your just friends now?"

Gabriella blushed.

Taylor smiled. "Troy can really surprise".

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked confused.

"Well Troy seems more like the player type, but it`s nice to see him being so nice to you. I didn`t think he was like that"

"I know, Troy isn`t like most of the others popular guys, it only goes to their head", Gabriella thought about it for a while. She hadn`t thought of it before, but before she left both of them were popular, and they didn`t really hang much around unpopular people, but Troy didn`t care how unpopular Gabriella was. Gabriella felt bad for not talking so much with the other people at her last school, but she couldn`t be friends with everyone either.

"I wish I could say that of Chad", Taylor said.

"Chad, is he your boyfriend?" Gabriella asked surprised.

"Yeah, believe it or not, but he can be so sweet sometimes, but then he`s such fool, I don`t know why I`m with him really".

Gabriella just nodded. _If Troy just isn`t like that, _but she shook the thought away. _I know Troy, he`s not like that._

"Are you coming back to school soon?" Taylor asked.

"I don`t know", Gabriella said looking down.

Taylor realized that Gabriella didn`t want to talk about that, whatever it was so Taylor started to talk about something else. "Do you like music?"

Taylor and Gabriella kept talking for a long while about every daily thing. They seemed to come along very easily, and when Taylor went Gabriella felt much happier. She looked forward to get to know Taylor even better.

**I hope you liked it :D I got 6 reviews, I`m so happy!! I just needed to write more, when I saw it :p **

**Ì`ve started on another story, but I`m not sure if I`m going to upload it right away, but it`s on it`s way ;)**

**Please review, again.**

**Beate 3**


	10. First day back at school

Chapter 10 – first day back at school

On Friday evening Lucille and Jack were at a party while Troy and Gabriella were staying home. They were watching a movie and sat close into each other's bodies. Troy smiled as Gabriella cuddled herself even closer into Troy`s body. By seeing Troy smile, Gabriella smiled to. Troy kissed the top of her head.

"So how was Taylor?" Troy asked her when the movie was finished.

"Nice", Gabriella answered simply.

There was silence for a while, before Gabriella cut it off; "I have been thinking about, maybe going back to school again".

"Really?" Troy asked happy.

"Yeah, I thought about it for a while after I talked to Taylor"

"That`s great!"

Gabriella smiled, "If you think it`s okay?"

"Of course", Troy smiled.

"But, I was just thinking about it", Gabriella said hesitatingly.

"Hey, everything will be okay" "I can`t wait for my friends to meet you"

"They won`t like me", Gabriella said. "I know you haven`t been here for so long, but you must have noticed that people like us don`t belong together, I`m a loner you're a jock".

"At or last school we were perfect together"

"Well I wasn`t me then"

"Time out on that one!" Troy said quickly. "I wasn`t me then, what do you mean?"

"Well, I was hiding who I really was"

"I don`t believe you there"

It took so little for Gabriella to tear up at this time; "I was playing happy there, when I really just was afraid of what would happen when I got home, sad because I missed my mom etc, so I didn`t know how to be real". More tears formed in her eyes. "The loner statues really suited me".

"Hey, you were as real as you could be". "The thing I remember the most from the old you is how happy you were, and that sort of happiness is no one able to fake". "You just didn`t get to be yourself at home".

"I still don`t think they will like me", Gabriella said stubbornly.

"Okay, maybe it will take so time for them to get use to you", Troy gave in "But ones they get to know you I know they will like you".

Gabriella still looked hesitantly.

"I will be by your side all the time" "At least when we don`t have different classes"

"Okay, I can live with that", Gabriella smiled.

Troy gave her a peck on her mouth. "It will be just fine".

Gabriella changed subject. "About us", she started. "Are you sure it`s a good idea, I mean we live together".

"I know, but if you feel like being with me then I think it`s a good idea".

"I do want to be you", Gabriella said. "Maybe we should talk to your parents about it".

"Yeah, we can do that"

---

The next morning Troy, Gabriella and Lucille were eating breakfast while Jack was out for a run.

"Mom, can we talk with you about something?" Troy asked.

"Sure", Lucille smiled.

Troy took a breath while Gabriella was just sitting and looking at both of them trying to hide her embarrassment. "Gabriella and I are a sort of a thing now", Troy said hesitantly.

"Mhm", Lucille said with a smile on her face.

"We just thought that you might wouldn`t like it if we lived together then, so we thought maybe it`s better if I move out.", Gabriella said.

Troy gave her the 'I never said that' look.

"I thought it was better", Gabriella corrected herself.

"You don`t need to move out", Lucille said quickly. "When I said that Gabriella could stay with us I already knew that the chance was big for you two to get together, so I was already getting ready for this", she explained. "You can stay here as long as you want".

"Are you sure?" Gabriella asked kind of hopeful.

"This is your home now", Lucille smiled.

"Home", Gabriella repeated it for herself and tasted the word. She liked that.

No one knew what more to say so Troy changed subject. "Gabriella wants to go back to school again".

"Really?" Lucille asked.

"I have been thinking about it", Gabriella answered.

"I think it`s a good idea", Lucille agreed.

---

Troy and Gabriella were walking through the doors of East High. As Gabriella sees her school again, she realized that she had totally forgotten how terrible it was there. Gabriella had a tight grip on Troy`s hand and was walking a bit behind him. As they came inside all the people stopped whatever they were doing to stare at them.

"I can`t do this", Gabriella started to turn around.

"Yes you can, be strong", Troy whispered to her.

Gabriella took a breath as they walked on. Soon Chad was coming towards them.

"Dude, can I talk to you for a while?" Chad asked.

"Sure", Troy answered and Troy and Gabriella stopped.

"Alone", Chad said.

"Whatever you want to say, say it in front of her", Troy said.

"Okay, what are you doing with HER?"

"Oh, I`m sorry, I forgot to introduce you to each other", Troy said with confidence. "Chad this is Gabriella Montez, my girlfriend, Gabriella this is Chad Danforth, my friend".

Gabriella shyly held out her hand, but Chad didn`t return it so she quickly took it back.

"This is your girlfriend?" Chad asked shocked. "She`s, She`s" Chad stuttered. "She`s nothing".

"DON`T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!" Troy yelled furious. He held his hand out to punch him, when Gabriella said in tears; "No, Troy don`t"

Troy took his hand down and searched for Gabriella`s hand, but she was gone. He turned around to see Gabriella running through the doors. He gave Chad a furious look and ran after her.

"I told you we should talk in private", Chad yelled after him.

Outside Taylor was already standing beside a frustrated Gabriella, trying to calm her down.

"I`m so sorry", Troy said quickly.

"I-I told you this was no g-good idea", Gabriella said through her tears.

"What happened?" Taylor asked.

"Chad freaked out", Troy explained.

"And T-Troy freaked out", Gabriella added.

"I`m so sorry about that, but did you want me to just let him say all those things about you?" Troy asked frustrated.

"No", Gabriella admitted. "But there are better ways to solve things than violence".

"You punched him?" Taylor asked.

"I stopped him", Gabriella said.

"Do you want me to talk to Chad?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, thanks", Troy said.

Gabriella just nodded.

"Okay, I see you later", Taylor said and went away.

"I`m really sorry, I just couldn`t stand it. He has no right to talk about you like that".

"It`s okay", Gabriella said wiping her tears away. "I don`t blame him either, 'nothing' is the perfect word".

Troy was about to about to reject it when Gabriella said; "Or was the perfect word".

"Do you want to go inside again?" Troy asked. "We`re in the same homeroom".

"I don`t know if I can handle the stares", Gabriella said silently.

"I`m sure you can, your strong"

Gabriella took a breath "Okay", she said and they went to class.

In free period Chad took some time to talk to Gabriella and Troy before he went to play basket with Troy.

"Hey, I`m sorry about what I said before", Chad said. "I might need some time to get used to you", he looked at her from top to toe. "But it`s okay that you date Troy, I`m sure your nice".

Gabriella nodded.

"But the school will need some time to get used to you", Chad warned her.

Again Gabriella nodded.

The rest of free period Gabriella was hanging out with Taylor and her group who were practicing for the scholastic decathlon. Taylor was the school president, she was a cheerleader and very smart. If it wasn`t that she was a cheerleader Chad would never have fallen for her, but she didn`t care. When they were practicing Gabriella came with tips, she couldn`t stand seeing them do something wrong.

"You should join the team", Taylor said, amazed by Gabriella`s smartness.

"No, I`m not really into this stuff", Gabriella answered.

"But your super good"

Gabriella blushed. "I just haven`t been having so much other stuff to do, so I`ve been focusing on my school work a lot".

"Please, join the team", Taylor begged.

"I`m sorry, I have a lot catching up to do".

---

In lunch the stares hadn`t stopped. Gabriella was sitting at the 'cool' table with Chad, Troy, Taylor, Zeke, Sharpay, Ryan and Jason. Troy was doing his best to get them to get to know each other.

Gabriella looked down and whispered to Troy; "I can`t be here, everyone are staring and whispering about me".

Troy looked around. It was true. He stepped on the table and looked at the crowd. There was no need to say anything, everyone became silent right away.

"I have been noticing you have been staring, and I ask you to stop". "This is Gabriella Montez, she`s my girlfriend, and there`s no need to judge her", he pointed at Gabriella.

Troy sat down again without saying anything more about it, while Gabriella was more embarrassed than ever.

**The end sucked, I know, but I just needed to finish it. I know that it`s like forever since I last uploaded, but I have an explination you might like. First some sad news, this story is almost finished, then the good; I have been thinking about a sequel to this one, so there`s a chance there will come a sequel. I have also spent my holidays experimenting with other ideas I have for stories, so I have been writing chapters on two other stories, (One or two chapthers each), but I just want to make some more chapters before I upload it, and wait until this one is finished. Here`s some ideas for new stories:**

**Untitled:**

**Gabriella is a movie star, but is hiding the real her. Everyone adore her beautiful smile, but she`s always said that she doesn`t want to talk about her personal life, the truth is that she doesn`t really have a personal life. She has no friends, she gets abused by her parents. What happens when one of her biggest fans, Troy Bolton starts to find out more about her? Will she let him help her? What happens when the paparazzi starts following her? Will she be able to hide her personal life?**

**Just something I have been thinking about, the other is this one:**

**Memory Loss:**

**A girl looses her memory in a very bad accident and as she has no idea who she is, she needs to start all over, learn everything over again. Then she will be called Gabriella Montez, she will meet Troy and he will think she is nice, but look weird at her when she doesn`t understand regular things. Hope you understand what I meen. **

**So tell me what you think, hope you liked the chapters and my new ideas. **

**Please review**

**-Beate**


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